Dictionary of American Regional English

Dip into the "Dictionary of American Regional English" and enter the ever-changing world of American speech. Learn what a Minnesota grandma is making when she fixes "lefse", what a counterman in a Buffalo deli means by "kimmelweck" or a Hawaiian baker puts into a "malassada". Find out what kids on the streets of New York are doing when they play "Johhny-on-the-pony", what Southerners do when they use their "tom walkers", what the folks in Oklahoma and Texas celebrate on "Juneteenth" and those in some parts of Wisconsin at a "kermis". This volume captures the language of America, from east to west, north to south, urban to rural, childhood to old age. More than 500 maps show where you might be if you looked in a garden and saw "moccasin flowers", "Indian cigars" or "lady peas"; if you encountered a bullfrog and cried, "jugarum!"; or came upon a hover fly and exclaimed, "newsbee!". And here is an explanation of what the "madstone" and the "money cat" portend. Built upon a survey of spoken English across America and bolstered by historical research, the "Dictionary of American Regional English" preserves this language.